Another fantasy football season brings new names to match with old questions. Whom to draft? When to select different positions? Can I beat that jerk in accounting?

Let’s try to answer a few of those.

Holdouts and injuries

There are currently deep concerns that running back Melvin Gordon could miss games, and maybe the entire season, while he holds out in his final contract year. A growing number of fans fear Ezekiel Elliott’s contract dispute could last beyond Week 1. He is entering his fourth year and is under contract through 2020. Elliott could be fined heavily and potentially gain nothing from not playing since he would still be under contract for two more years.

There’s no sense in playing locker-room lawyer with the legalese of NFL contracts. Until Elliott or Gordon show up in camp, let someone else take the risk. Le’Veon Bell raised the bar in 2018 when he silently extended his absence for the entire season, to the great dismay of every fantasy owner everywhere.

There are also a number of players who enter the season with new injuries or are still in the process of recovering from pre-existing health issues. Among them: Andrew Luck, Kenyan Drake, Derrius Guice, Jerick McKinnon, A.J. Green and others. Carefully weigh their pros and cons, and then just draw a line through them on your cheat sheet. You can’t make a bad pick if you never see it.

A holdout should give fantasy owners pause when considering Chargers running back Melvin Gordon, who has posted double-digit touchdowns each of the last three seasons.(Photo: Kirby Lee, USA TODAY Sports)

There are question-mark players like these every season. You are not letting the “deal of a lifetime” pass you by when you choose not to draft someone. You are making a choice between that guy and the next name on your cheat sheet, one that carries almost the same fantasy potential, only with a lot less risk.

If the questionable player ends up producing, then you still made a solid pick and the team drafting after you nets a few more points. But if that player continues to have issues or holds out, then you dodged a bullet that could kill your fantasy fortunes, especially with players taken in the early rounds.

When you weigh health concerns, remember injury-plagued wideout Doug Baldwin, who was drafted as the No. 16 wide receiver last year and finished at No. 46. When you consider holdout players, recall Bell’s infamous no-show. Draw a line through the name, move on to the next.

Quarterbacks can wait

Sure, Patrick Mahomes posted eye-popping stats in his first year and might repeat. But he’s going to cost a high pick in drafts and typically is taken several rounds before any other quarterback. The reality is, aside from the top three, quarterbacks do not offer that much differentiation on a weekly basis.

In standard fantasy scoring, the fourth-best QB is only about 50 fantasy points better than the 10th-best over the course of the season. That’s just three points per week, assuming you were able to get the order correct.

Consider, too, that the other top quarterbacks in 2018 were Matt Ryan and Ben Roethlisberger, who had career-best seasons. Those highest-scorers were drafted outside the top 10 a year ago. Even if Mahomes repeats, there will be a different pair of quarterbacks turning in their career-best season for the 2019 top three.

Andrew Luck was drafted as the ninth-best quarterback and ended as the fifth-highest scoring. He was the only quarterback taken in the top 10 last year who actually played better than his draft spot suggested. Think about that. The other nine all ended ranked below where they were drafted.

They might score the most fantasy points, but there’s just no reason to take a QB until your starters at running back, wide receivers and even tight end are already on your roster.

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Get the edge at tight end

The tight end position is used inconsistently in the NFL, and for any given year, only five or six will average more than four catches per game.

If points for receptions aren’t awarded, their contribution to your fantasy team is often less than any other position. The good news is that owning one of the few difference-making tight ends can be a major advantage.

Travis Kelce and Zach Ertz both far outscored any other tight ends last season. It has been a few years since either failed to deliver a top-three season at the position. Kelce often goes in the first round in point-per-reception (PPR) leagues and Ertz won’t last beyond the third round. While both are elite at their position, they’re also coming off career years themselves.

There were only two instances of a tight end catching more than 100 passes in NFL history until 2018. Ertz (116) and Kelce (103) joined that small club with the first- and third-highest totals.

George Kittle usually ends up near Ertz in fantasy drafts after his career-best showing in 2018. But better values can still be found by waiting for the grouping of Hunter Henry, O.J. Howard, Evan Engram and Eric Ebron.

They often last until the fifth and sixth rounds and yet still offer a positional advantage. Wait until one of them is taken to know when the run on second-tier tight ends starts.

Hunting for sleepers

A “sleeper” is a player who far outperforms where he was taken in a fantasy draft. There are two main reasons why that can happen.

First, a player performs far better due to either a progression in their career or some change in his situation that was unforeseen.

Second, a player changes teams. Landing on a different offense almost always depresses a player’s outlook because there is no history on which to base expectations.

Rookies are always a challenge to evaluate, but calculated risks can pay off and a weak class of 2018 has lowered expectations for this season. Running backs Josh Jacobs, David Montgomery and Miles Sanders offer value where they are being drafted.

N’Keal Harry, Deebo Samuel, Marquise Brown and A.J. Brown are wideouts that are being taken as fantasy depth, but own the talent that could translate into a fantasy starter this year.

When you prepare for your fantasy draft, remember to play it safe with your starters and swing for the fences with your backups – never the other way around.

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